


Everything Carries Me to You

by Moriavis



Series: He loves me at a distance [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alpha!Barry, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Coldflash Week 2017, First Kiss, M/M, Omega!Len, Relationship Negotiation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2019-01-09 13:50:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12277839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moriavis/pseuds/Moriavis
Summary: Barry had been a beta his entire life. Coping as an alpha was impossible.Enter Leonard Snart.





	Everything Carries Me to You

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Все пути ведут меня к тебе](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13564968) by [marianna_night](https://archiveofourown.org/users/marianna_night/pseuds/marianna_night)



> Here is my contribution to Coldflash Week 2017b! I was really thinking I wouldn't finish anything, so i'm glad I managed this one. 
> 
> The title is from If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda.
> 
> Thanks to saekhwa, who always holds my hand when I cry at her.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

~*~

When Leonard moved, Barry couldn’t look away; each step was slow and measured as Leonard paced the length of the room, needing — as always — to make sure he had multiple exits. When he finally appeared satisfied, he stalked over to the booth where Barry was waiting and slid into the seat opposite. Barry swallowed, clenching his hands into fists beneath the table, and refused to look up from the menu in front of him until he was sure he was in control.

Barry didn't trust himself to speak, and after a few minutes Leonard said, "I'm surprised you searched me out again. Thought you had enough of me after Ferris Air."

Barry scoffed, unable to help himself. "I thought I did too. No. I won't ask for your help for anything like that again." He stumbled into another silence before continuing. "This is personal." 

When he finally managed to force his head up, Leonard was staring at him with narrow, intense eyes, as if trying to work him out, like a puzzle. It sent a bolt of heat through Barry and he looked away again in flustered embarrassment, unable to look Leonard in the eye when he knew he was clouding the air between them with his stupid pheremones.

"I'm not Dear Abby." The seat creaked when Leonard sat back. "I'm not here to give advice or hold your hand."

"Please." Barry forced himself to look back up at Leonard. "How do you— _do_ it?"

"How do I do what?"

"I was a beta, before the accelerator exploded." Barry darted a look right and left before focusing on Leonard again. "Iris and Joe? They're betas. Eddie? Captain Singh? Yeah. Everyone in my life is a beta, and I don't know how you _live_."

"Barry—"

"Please," Barry said again. "I need help. You're the only person I know who"—He shrugged—"knows anything, really. There's so little research out there on alphas and omegas anymore that we're looking at medical textbooks from a hundred years ago. Even the last study I could get my hands on is twenty years old."

"Yeah." The word was short, sharp, and it drew Barry up in surprise at Leonard's tone. "I know." He slid out of his seat with that same strange grace that had captivated Barry the first time he'd seen Leonard, and then stared down at Barry, cocking his eyebrow. "We're not having this conversation in a bar. You coming?"

Barry scrambled out of his seat and followed after Leonard, his hackles rising a little at the appreciative looks Leonard got from the other bar patrons.

"Down, boy," Leonard drawled. "I'm not yours to protect."

Barry huffed a small laugh and dragged his hand through his hair, forcing himself to settle back. He didn't want a fight. He wanted his head to finally go quiet. Just for a minute. 

They walked out together to the parking lot, and Leonard pinned Barry with another hard look. "There's a small house on Chestnut Street. Number eight. Meet me there."

Barry nodded and waited just long enough to watch Leonard walk toward his motorcycle before he dashed off. He was at Chestnut in a second, at the house in half that. It was small and shabby, in a small and shabby neighborhood, and Barry wondered if Leonard was about to betray him again, if he was going to call Mick before he came. Barry supposed it didn't matter, as long as he was careful.

He waited five more minutes before he heard the sound of a motorcycle coming down the quiet street, and he turned as Leonard pulled into the driveway, shutting off the engine and pulling off his helmet.

"Didn't get too anxious waiting for me, did you?" Leonard teased, and somehow, even the sound of Leonard's voice worked to relax Barry again. He wanted to smile, but he shrugged instead, watching as Leonard cocked his head to the side and looked at him for a long moment. "Suit yourself." 

When Leonard let Barry inside the house, the first thing that struck him was how clean everything was. There wasn't any clutter, and nothing, not even the sofa sitting in the living room, carried a scent beyond detergent or cleaner. In a way, it was almost like being in a decontamination room, and Barry never realized how much he used his senses to move through the world until there wasn't really anything to sense.

"You've..." Barry cleared his throat. "Acclimated really well."

"I didn't acclimate, Barry." Leonard pushed past him and headed toward the kitchen. "I'm not an Accelerator Omega."

"You… were born like this?"

Leonard nodded, not bothering to look at Barry, and Barry sat down at the table, watching Leonard start the coffee maker and take mugs from the cupboard. He remembered sex ed in high school, the football coach droning on in front of the whiteboard as he talked about the differences between alphas and omegas and what part the dying breed had in a beta society. The group of boys who had always sat in front of Barry to bully him were, for once, distracted by a better target.

 _"Alphas are thugs,"_ they'd whispered to each other. _"Omegas are the ones you want. They're practically sex on legs."_

Watching Leonard sit beside him and push one of the coffee cups over, Barry was ashamed to find himself agreeing with them.

Leonard gestured at the cup, and Barry gratefully curled his fingers around it, appreciating the warmth. "Thank you." He licked his lips. "Please, tell me how you do what you do without going crazy."

Leonard leaned back in his chair, taking a sip of his coffee. "Suppressants, mostly. Legally, with my name on them and everything. The government likes keeping track of us."

"Is that why you had me destroy your records?"

"One of many reasons," Leonard agreed. "When my heats can't be ignored, I pay a prostitute good money to take care of me. Not one of the best solutions, but it works for me."

Barry looked down at his coffee again. "I thought male Omegas couldn't get pregnant?"

Leonard snorted. "Doesn't mean I don't need a good knot every once in awhile."

Barry couldn't stop himself from imagining what Leonard would look like in a heat — flushed, sweaty, eager to please, with all his icy defenses stripped away — and he pushed his chair back an inch from the table, trying to take the space he needed to get himself under control without being rude.

"Look at me," Leonard ordered, and Barry darted a quick glance at Leonard's face before he looked away. Leonard clamped his hands on either side of Barry's head and rubbed gentle circles against the juncture between Barry's jaw and throat, where his scent glands were located. It was immediately soothing, and Barry relaxed, his eyes closing without a thought. "There you go. Breathe." 

Barry followed the instructions, inhaling and exhaling, and all the while Leonard kept rubbing soft circles against his jaw, relaxing him further.

"You can self-soothe." Leonard took one of Barry's hands and placed it against Barry's neck, showing him exactly where to touch. "If you're aware enough, or if you have someone you trust with you, this is the easiest way to force a calm."

"You learned this for Lisa, didn't you?" Barry asked. Leonard's fingers stilled, and Barry whined unconsciously before Leonard continued.

"She's an aggressive Alpha," Leonard said after a long moment of silence. "There were times I needed her to keep her head."

"Why are you helping me, Snart?" Barry didn't open his eyes, wondering if allowing himself to be vulnerable was helping foster the strange, temporary peace between them. He didn't want it to go away, not yet.

"I've seen what happens to Alphas who can't control themselves," Leonard said. "They're shot down on the streets like dogs. No one deserves that."

"You're right." 

Barry took a breath and opened his eyes, startled to find Leonard watching him, narrow and calculating as always, like he never stopped thinking. Barry remembered when science soothed him the way Leonard was now, filling him with calm, focusing his thoughts. His mind was too fast for that, now — problems that would've taken him an hour to think out now only took seconds, and he went around and around on the problem that was Leonard Snart. He thought he might have figured Snart out — he just didn't like the answer.

He raised his hand and curled his fingers around Leonard's wrist, holding him gently in place. "Before we reached Ferris Air, we worked well together, didn't we?"

Leonard shook his head. "Don't go down that road, kid. There's nothing good waiting there."

Barry laughed and shook his head. "You think you're so funny, with all those puns, and you're so smart, and I… just don't see why we aren't on the same side."

Leonard snorted. "It's because I like stealing things, Barry, and you like stopping me."

"It doesn't have to be that way. Can you imagine how the crime families would freak out if Captain Cold was working with the Flash?" Barry smiled at the thought, even though he knew Leonard would have some cutting remark to cut him back down to size.

"So one-sided," Leonard chided. "We could think about it the other way. Why couldn't the two of us go to Paris and take the Louvre for everything they've got?"

Barry shook his head. "I'm not a criminal, Snart."

Leonard smiled, sharp and somehow satisfied. "And I'm no hero, _Flash_."

Leonard began to pull his hand out of Barry's grasp, and Barry growled, turning his face to nose at Leonard's wrist, to smell his skin and feel his pulse beating. In the bar, it was so thick with smoke and spilled alcohol that he could barely smell Leonard — now, in this clean, quiet house, it was a tease. Smoke from the bar, gasoline from the motorcycle, Leonard Snart.

"Something's been bothering me, Snart."

"Somehow, I'm not surprised." Leonard pulled his hand away, and this time Barry let him go.

"You didn't take suppressants," Barry said, watching Leonard's face. "And we're here alone, in a house that smells like nothing. No territory scents, not Lisa, not Mick. Barely even you."

Leonard didn't blink as he set his hands on the table and sipped his coffee. "We're compatible, Barry. That's a problem. A serious problem."

"I know," Barry agreed.

Leonard looked away, then. "I should have killed you when I had the chance."

"I'll thank Cisco again." Barry stood and went to Leonard, keeping his hands to his sides and standing a respectful distance away. He remembered attacking Eddie under Bivolo's meta ability, and he never wanted to intimidate someone on purpose like that ever again, even if it was someone like Snart, who never lost his cool.

But Leonard's pupils were wide and bottomless when he looked up, and Barry risked edging closer. "If you don't want me to touch you, tell me."

Leonard stood, and the movement made him close in on Barry's space. They were silent, their breath the only sound in the room, and Barry reached out and cradled Leonard's jaw, stroking Leonard's scent glands the way Leonard had shown him. Alphas weren't the only ones in need of calm.

The way Leonard's eyelashes fluttered on his cheeks was worth the nervousness, the mixing of their scents a comfort that Barry wanted to sink into. He was leaning in to press his forehead to Leonard's when Leonard's eyes snapped open, and he pressed a hand to Barry's chest.

"If we're going to do this, we need rules," Leonard rasped, and the huskiness of his voice sent a shiver down Barry's spine.

"What rules? Why?"

Leonard looked distinctly unimpressed as he stepped fully away. "Because I'm Cold, and you're the Flash, and all hell will break loose if someone smells us on each other."

Barry dropped his hands to his sides. "Point. Okay, what are you thinking?"

Leonard held up a finger. "No kissing. No scenting. No biting, and no knotting."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Barry planted his hands on his hips. "That's _everything_ , Snart!"

"Think it through, Barry," Leonard hissed. "We can't—"

"I know I can't—" Barry's voice broke, and he swallowed hard, staring at Leonard defiantly even though his eyes were stinging. "I know I can't knot you. It would put the Flash out of commission and it's too suspicious. But I can't even kiss you? That's not fair."

Leonard folded his arms over his chest and leaned his hip against the edge of the table. "You seem to be under the impression that this is more than sex. Biological compatibility aside, how would that work, exactly? You can't expect to take me home to meet the family."

Barry ran a hand through his hair, and he wasn't sure if he was miserable because of his thwarted Alpha instincts, or if he was miserable because he thought something completely impossible was within his grasp. Someone who understood him, someone who he could go toe to toe with. Someone who he could…

Barry took a slow breath, wrenching his thoughts back in order, even as his eyes blurred again. "If you weren't such a coward, you'd see how good we could be."

"You're barking up the wrong tree if you think appealing to my emotions is gonna get you anywhere." 

Barry grit his teeth and forced himself to take a breath before he responded. Joe would've been proud, and the thought made Barry laugh. He wouldn't have been proud about the situation Barry put himself in.

"Fine," he decided. "If it's just sex, then here's my counter offer." He whipped around to face Leonard again. "Kissing is important and harmless. You're worried about bonding, right? So no knotting. I _have_ to scent you, though. It's driving me crazy right now. I can be the one who leaves first? You can wash me off afterward?"

Leonard mulled it over, looking off to the side. He nodded. "That's acceptable."

"As for the biting, maybe it can just be a small one?" Barry ducked his head when Leonard glared at him. "A really small one."

Leonard's gaze flickered away and back again. "I choose the location."

Barry snarled in a purely Alpha instinct, and he twisted around, turning his back to Leonard as he tried to rub the furious expression from his face. "Maybe," he panted, "we can agree on it together."

"Fine." The word was bitten off, unhappy, but it made Barry's shoulders relax, even as he faced Leonard again sheepishly.

"I know you're right," Barry said, soft and embarrassed. "You're right about everything, but I can't just… let you go without trying."

"I know." Leonard's pale eyes glittered as he stepped closer. "And I'm going to be insufferable when this blows up in our faces."

Barry curled his hand in Leonard's shirt and pulled him forward, promptly burying his face against Leonard's throat. He butted his head against Leonard's ear, his cheek, not completely satisfied, although that would have to do for now. Barry's phone buzzed in his pocket, and he paused in his scenting, rubbing his cheek against Leonard's shoulder for good measure.

He glanced at the caller ID and saw Cisco's name. "Hey, what's up?" 

Leonard's hands settled at the small of Barry's back, and Barry shuddered, closing his eyes as he turned his head, rubbing his cheek against Leonard's again.

"Dude, I know this is your night off, but we've got a meta causing trouble in the Mounds."

Barry frowned, growing rigid with tension, and it was only Leonard's hands on him that helped him keep his head. "It's cool," Barry said, even though it was very much not cool at all. He was in the middle of something important, and he leaned into Leonard's hands, craving the contact. "Give me a couple of minutes." He disconnected the call and slid the phone into his pocket. "I'll take a shortcut on the waterside and fall in. They won't smell you," he said before Leonard could open his mouth, and then curled his hand around Leonard's nape, turning his face against Leonard's shoulder to breathe him in.

"You've got somewhere to be, kid." Leonard's voice wasn't unkind, but it was calm and to the point, and something in it made Barry ache, like he was the only one who was going to suffer while they were apart. His hands tightened on Leonard's shirt.

"Maybe whoever it is will go home." Barry scratched his nails against the back of Leonard's neck and earned a shudder that made him tremble in response. "Maybe I can stay right here and--"

Leonard turned his head, and in the second before their lips met, a possessive, alien pride filled Barry -- _yes, this one, Leonard_ belonged _with him in a way no one else ever would_ \-- and it made Barry kiss him harder than he meant to, a growl rumbling in his chest as he pressed Leonard against the table, caging him in his arms, barely able to stop one kiss before he was leaning forward for another one.

There was a low, pleasant rumble rising in counterpoint to Barry's growl, and then Leonard's fingers were rubbing soft circles against Barry's jaw again, so soothing and satisfying that he wondered how he'd managed without it before. 

He pulled away and looked at Leonard, mouth red and kiss-bitten, chest rising and falling with each rapid breath, and Barry smiled with a shy, soft wonder, pressing his hand to Leonard's chest. "Are you purring?"

Leonard opened his eyes, the small sliver of pale blue drawing Barry's attention like a laser. "Someone needed to chill out."

Barry leaned in again. This time the kiss was softer, more intimate, and the way Leonard opened up to the gentleness made Barry feel like he was holding something infinitely precious in his hands. "I promise I'll be right back," he whispered. "Please don't leave. Not yet." 

"Barry." Leonard stopped soothing and set his hands on Barry's arms, squeezing tight. "Go now, or you're not leaving at all."

Barry grinned and darted in for one more kiss before he flashed out the door.

He'd defeat the meta and come back. If Leonard was gone, Barry would go back home and spend the evening watching Wheel of Fortune with Joe.

If Leonard was still there, though—

Well. He'd probably try to talk Barry out of whatever they were doing, try to keep him off balance and distracted.

Fortunately, Barry was pretty light on his feet.

~*~


End file.
